AN ISLAND WITH STAR QUALITY
Corsica is a glam French beauty with a rustic heart, discovers JENNY COAD
NaPolEon, it is said, could smell his homeland from neighbouring Elba, where he was exiled. It’s about 30 miles off the east coast of Corsica, so he must have had a good nose. But the island of his birth is wonderfully perfumed. In July, when my boyfriend Rob and I are here, it smells of dusty, warm herbs crisping in the sunshine. all sorts of flowers and foliage add to the bewitching aroma.
There are plenty of other tempting smells, too, including those from the yellow bakery van that delivers daily croissants.
We are staying in Calvi, on the north-west coast, in le Home — a collection of reasonably priced apartments in gorgeous grounds — with two swimming pools.
It’s only a few minutes’ walk from the long stretch of beach lined with restaurants, cafes and kayak schools, and a 20-minute stroll into town via the harbour.
Corsica is popular among the French and the well-heeled — the Cameron family spent a week in Porto-Vecchio, in the south of the island, last summer.
Chris Hemsworth of Thor fame and his wife Elsa dropped anchor in Calvi the year before.
It’s a good base for families. The
beach offers shallow waters and rope courses for older children. The harbour glitters in the evening with restaurants and yachts drawing nosy onlookers.
There’s live music, pizzas to rival Italy’s, and irresistible gelato, plus plenty of inexpensive rosé wine, made on the island.
Calvi’s fortified old town, where the French Foreign Legion has a base, presides over the lot. At night, it’s a calm place to escape the crowds. L’Altu, outside the cathedral, is a peaceful spot for dinner. It’s worth climbing up to the old town for sunset, when the walls turn lemon yellow and the harbour twinkles below.
Explore farther afield without a car by taking the busy, rattling train north-east along the coast to L’lle-Rousse, stopping en route for a swim. We bathe off the rocks at Algajola, though there is also a long sandy stretch and a seaweedstrewn bay at Marine de Davia.
West from Calvi, following the coastal path, are rocky coves and the sandy bay at Revellata. Here, even in high summer, you’ll get a toasty slab of rock to yourself to watch the boats come and go.
It’s worth hiring a car, as there are wonderfully scenic drives.
Take the main road to Galeria, a 30-minute drive, and park yourself on the pebble beach, where there’s a brilliant cafe — La Cabane du Pecheur — owned by a fisherman, serving fish tacos and fresh lobster.
In the cooler afternoon, head west to find the trailhead for the fishing village of Girolata, which can be reached only on foot or by boat. The boat is expensive — £52 pp — so we take the trail, which is well worth the sweat and scramble.
The path is almost nicer than the destination, though Girolata must feel fantastically away-from-it all in winter when the tourists have gone home. On the way back, rest your feet at pink-pebbled Tuaru beach.
We also take winding roads into the interior, through hill villages as picturesque but quieter than those in Provence.
San Antonino and Pigna are the honeypots, where locals must despair at all the tourists tramping through their tiny streets.
Serious walkers begin the GR20 — a 15-day, 180 km hike — in quiet Calenza. Happily, I haven’t packed the right shoes. That’s a challenge for another holiday.
TRAVEL FACTS
CORSICAN Places ( corsica.co.uk, 01489 866 931) has seven-night holidays at Le Home from £668 pp including flights from Stansted or Manchester and transfers.